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The
day long Beach Party centered
around surfing with many
guests getting their first opportunity
to try the sport after taking a
class led by two of Portugal's top pro
surfers. (All photos in this
article are courtesy of NamesCon
Europe).
Above:
(Left to right) Pro surfer Alex
Unwin (Moana Surf School), NamesCon President and
CEO Soeren von Varchmin and
Pro surfer Andrew Cotton at
the NamesCon Europe Beach Party
Saturday in Cascais, Portugal. Below:
Unwin and and de Macedoa conducted a
Surf Class so NamesCon guests
could get some basic tips before
heading into the Atlantic Ocean.
Above:
Internet
Commerce Association
Executive Director Kamila
Sekiewicz getting warmed up
before testing her newly acquired
surfing knowledge in the Atlantic
Ocean. Below:
School is out! Time to pick up a
board and catch a wave!
While
domain people are experts at surfing
the web I have to admit I was
expecting to see a lot of wipe
outs when our friends tried
riding real waves. Instead, a
lot of them looked just as
comfortable surfing in the real
world as they do in the virtual one.
That is conference moderator Braden
Pollock (LegalBrandMarketing.com)
looking good above - but then Braden
is from California so he
probably should be disqualified! And
Giuseppe Graziano (below),
founder of the GGRG.com brokerage,
is from Lisbon, just down the
beach from from Cascais, so he was
probably no stranger to a surfboard
either.
Above:
Morgan Linton (MorganLinton.com)
is also a California resident but I
would not DQ him because he took on
an added degree of difficulty,
shooting a video of himself while
surfing! That is Ray King
(CEO at Top Level Design) looking on
in amazement. Below:
Pro surfers Alex Unwin and Andrew
Cotton like what they are
seeing from their students so far!
Above:
Now, I am not going to try to tell
you that nobody wiped out, but the
way Mark Ghoriafi (.GLOBAL
Marketing Manager) did it, I think
you have to give him a 10 for
the unique dismount (or maybe
that only applies in
gymnastics)! Below:
Yow know the old saying - if at
first you don't succeed, try
again. Well, I think Mark may
have been the guy who came up with
that line. He will keep trying until
he gets the job done and he did that
again Saturday.
Above:
Of course, you didn't have to go
surfing. Many were content to watch
the action while hanging out on the
beach with a cold drink and friends.
Case in point (left to right): Jeff
Gabriel (Uniregistry), Alan
Dunn (NameCorp.com) and Elliot
Silver (DomainInvesting.com). Below:
Meanwhile, back out on the water Kamila
Sekiewicz proved that pre-game
stretching routine paid off in the
ocean!
Above:
Paul Nicks (VP & GM of
the GoDaddy Aftermarket) had a big
week. A couple of days before NamesCon
Europe began his company helped
close the
highest reported all cash domain
sale ever made with Voice.com
at $30 million. When the
weekend arrived Paul was still
flying high - this time on a
surfboard in the Atlantic off the
coast of Portugal. Below:
Like Nicks, Michael Cyger (DNAcademy.com)
came over to Cascais from the U.S.
Michael was so steady on
the board it looked like he could
ride it all the way back home to
Seattle!
Above:
.GLOBAL Registry Founder Rolf
Larsen looked like he was
conducting an orchestra while
surfing Saturday, but we learned today
that Rolf had just orchestrated a
sale
of the .GLOBAL registry
to Afilias,
who has been proving the registry's
backend services! No wonder he was
hitting so many high notes
Saturday!
Above:
By the end of the day only a handful
of survivors were still standing
(with the others presumably carried
away on the outgoing tide). Left to
right are Morgan Linton, Christa
Taylor (dotTBA), Ray King,
Michael Cyger and Rolf
Larsen. Below:
OK, so we made up the the washed out
to sea part - everyone made it back
healthy and happy (they just
came ashore in groups of various
sizes, just like the waves they had
spent the day riding).
If
you haven't been to a domain conference
before you may wonder what surfing
and a day at the beach has to do
with domaining. It is all
about building long term
relationships and outings like
this have proven to one of the best
possible ways to do that. Many
will tell you those relationships
(that often blossom into personal friendships)
have been the most important
thing they have gained from taking
these opportunities to meet
colleagues from around the world
face to face and spend time with
them in both business and social
settings. NamesCon
will provide another opportunity to
do that with their marquee NamesCon
Global event in Austin,
Texas January 26-29. 2020. They
have also already announced the
location for next year's edition of NamesCon
Europe. It will be in Budapest,
Hungary (exact dates still to be
set) with Rome to follow in
2021 and Cologne, Germany
in 2022.
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